List of composers of African descent

A

• Michael Abels, USA
• Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah, Egypt
• Muhal Richard Abrams, USA
• H. Leslie Adams, USA
• Eleanor Alberga, Jamaica
• Alcione, Brazil
• Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge, England
• Kenneth Amis, USA
• Thomas Jefferson Anderson, USA
• Lil Hardin Armstrong, USA

  B

• David Baker, USA
• Leon Bates, USA, pianist
• Catalina Berroa, Cuba
• Eubie Blake, USA
• James A. Bland, USA
• Margaret Allison Bonds, USA
• John William Boone, USA
• Anthony Braxton, USA
• George Bridgetower, Poland, violinist and composer
• Leo Brouwer, Cuba
• James Tim Brymn, USA
• Harry Burleigh, USA

  C

• Billy Childs, USA
• Robert Allen "Bob" Cole, USA
• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, England
• Ornette Coleman, USA
• Alice Coltrane, USA
• John Coltrane, USA
• Geraldine Connor, UK
• Will Marion Cook, USA
• Roque Cordero, Panama
• Arthur Cunningham, USA

  D

• William L. Dawson, USA
• Anthony Davis, USA
• Gussie Lord Davis, USA
• Edmond Dédé, USA
• Leonard De Paur, USA
• Robert Nathaniel Dett, Canada
• John Thomas Douglass, USA
• Rudolph Dunbar, Guyana
• Leslie Dunner, USA

  E

• Julius Eastman, USA
• Justin Elie, Haiti
• Duke Ellington, USA, jazz big band leader
• Mercer Ellington, USA
• Joseph Antonio Emidy, Guinea
• Akin Euba, Nigeria
• James Reese Europe, USA

  F

• Donal Fox, USA

  G

• José Maurício Nunes Garcia, Brazil
• Philip Gbeho, Ghana
• Kerry J. Gilliard, USA
• Harry P. Guy, USA

  H

• Adolphus Hailstork, USA
• W. C. Handy, USA, blues
• Edward W. Hardy, USA, composer, violinist & violinist
• Robert A. Harris, USA
• Henry Hart, USA
• Scott Hayden, USA, ragtime
• Talib Rasul Hakim, USA
• Fletcher Henderson, USA, jazz big band leader
• Ernest Hogan, USA
• Moses Hogan, USA
• David Hurd, USA

  I

• Abdullah Ibrahim, South Africa

  J

• Michael Jackson, USA, singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, choreographer, musician, businessman
• Tony Jackson, USA, pianist
• Leroy Jenkins, USA
• Jose Julian Jiménez, Cuba
• Lico Jiménez, Cuba
• Francis Johnson, USA
• Hall Johnson, USA
• James Price Johnson, USA
• J. Rosamond Johnson, USA
• Victor C. Johnson, USA
• Scott Joplin, USA
• Quincy Jones, USA
• Joe Jordan, USA

  K

• Ulysses Simpson Kay, USA

  L

• Charles Lucien Lambert, USA
• Lucien-Léon Guillaume Lambert, France
• Sidney Lambert, USA
• Ludovic Lamothe, Haiti
• Tania León, Cuba
• John Lewis, USA
• Melba Liston, USA
• Sam Lucas, USA

  M

• Bobby McFerrin, USA, jazz composer-vocalist-conductor
• Wynton Marsalis, USA
• Arthur Marshall, USA, ragtime
• Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, USA
• Charles Mingus, USA
• Roscoe Mitchell, USA
• Thelonious Monk, USA
• Carman Moore, USA
• Undine Smith Moore, USA
• Jeffrey Mumford, USA
• Diedre Murray, USA

  N

• Oliver Nelson, USA
• J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Ghana

  P

• Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, USA
• Julia Perry, USA
• Zenobia Powell Perry, USA
• Marvin Peterson, USA, jazz composer
• Armand John Piron, USA
• Florence Beatrice Price, USA
• Prince, USA

  R

• Amadeo Roldán, Cuba
• Sonny Rollins, USA

  S

• Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Guadeloupe
• Ignatius Sancho, England,
• James Scott, USA
• Wayne Shorter, USA
• Alvin Singleton, USA
• Chris Smith, USA
• Hale Smith, USA
• Fela Sowande, Nigeria
• William Grant Still, USA
• Howard Swanson, USA
• Billy Strayhorn, USA, one of the most highly regarded jazz and big band composers and arrangers; Ellington's friend and arranger

  T

• Shirley Thompson, English-born composer of Jamaican descent
• Henry Threadgill, USA, jazz composer
• Dean C. Taylor USA Composer

  W

• George Walker, USA
• Fats Waller, USA, singer, jazz musician
• Pete Wentz, bassist of the band Fall Out Boy
• Randy Weston, USA
• Clarence Cameron White, USA
• Joseph White Cuba
• Thomas Wiggins or "Blind Tom", USA
• Clarence Williams, USA
• Julius Penson Williams, USA
• Mary Lou Williams, USA
• Olly Wilson, USA
• John Wesley Work III, USA
• Stevie Wonder,

  Z

• Pamela Z, USA